Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Eug · Sep 8, 2003, 01:38 PM

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/conCpr...;section=10199

i900D with flash media slots and LCD screen
i960
i860
i455
i475D with flash media slots and LCD screen

All are 4800x1200 dpi.
The first three also do two-sided printing.
The first two are 6-colour printers.

I think I might just have to buy a i900D or i960 soon.

tooki · Sep 8, 2003, 03:31 PM

You missed a couple of details:

The i860 is a five-color printer, sorta: it has both dye and pigment black inks.

Duplex printing is optional -- they do not print on both sides out of the box.

For the top 3, an additional paper tray is also available.

I love my i850 -- I can't imagine how nice the i860 must be!

tooki

TAZ · Sep 8, 2003, 04:04 PM

Sounds good, but unfortunately I just had to return my i950 cause t would not work with Airport Extreme. It would print once and then never be able to pritn again.

Phayamac · Sep 9, 2003, 04:46 AM

Are those new ones meant to replace the 850 and 950 ones? I loved the design of those! The new 960 does look a bit plastic like compared to the old 950.
Having read all the reviews about this printer I was very close to get one for myself, but now I guess I have to wait again until the end of this moth to get the new 960. I hope it's going to be even better.

Socially Awkward Solo · Sep 9, 2003, 12:47 PM

I just got the i950 a month ago and it is probibly one of the best computer periferals I have ever gotten. The i960 looks fab.

I figured out that with this printer an 8x10 photo print costs me less the $1.20 CAN per page which is really cheap compared to my Epson. Each peace of photo paper I use costs $1.00 on it's own so the ink use is very low.

geekwagon · Sep 9, 2003, 12:54 PM

What's weird is that the i900 does 8.5x11 borderless printing where the i960 can only do 4x6 borderless. I don't really need/want the media slots on the i900 though. Hmm.

Socially Awkward Solo · Sep 9, 2003, 02:13 PM

Originally posted by geekwagon:
What's weird is that the i900 does 8.5x11 borderless printing where the i960 can only do 4x6 borderless. I don't really need/want the media slots on the i900 though. Hmm.

Really? The previous i950 can do 8.5 x 11 borderless.

zigzag · Sep 9, 2003, 03:11 PM

Can someone explain to me how or why Canon distinguishes between "All-Purpose" and "Photo" printers? For instance, the i850 is under the "Photo" heading, but the i860 is under the "All-Purpose" heading, while the i950 and i960 are both under "Photo." Does one model produce better text than the other, or poorer-quality photos, or what?

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/conCpr...;section=10199

geekwagon · Sep 9, 2003, 03:18 PM

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
Really? The previous i950 can do 8.5 x 11 borderless.

Yup, that's what the specs say:

Print Speed (up to)
4x6 Color Photo : Borderless: approximately 37 seconds*

8x10 Color Photo : Aproximately 1 minute*

Kinda sucks. I was seriously eyeing the i950 and I was hoping to get the i960 for $50 less. Now looks like I might want to get the i900D (which is of course $50 more.)

geekwagon · Sep 9, 2003, 03:20 PM

Originally posted by zigzag:
Can someone explain to me how or why Canon distinguishes between "All-Purpose" and "Photo" printers? For instance, the i850 is under the "Photo" heading, but the i860 is under the "All-Purpose" heading, while the i950 and i960 are both under "Photo." Does one model produce better text than the other, or poorer-quality photos, or what?

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/conCpr...;section=10199

When I spoke with the Canon rep at CompUSA about the i850 and i950 he said that I would probably want to use the i850 for text, as it was roughly 2x faster and produced better output, and the i950 for photos. So they probably have slightly different print engines..

Socially Awkward Solo · Sep 9, 2003, 03:25 PM

Originally posted by zigzag:
Can someone explain to me how or why Canon distinguishes between "All-Purpose" and "Photo" printers? For instance, the i850 is under the "Photo" heading, but the i860 is under the "All-Purpose" heading, while the i950 and i960 are both under "Photo." Does one model produce better text than the other, or poorer-quality photos, or what?

It is the number of inks as far as I know. True photo printers should have 6 colour ink. The 850 is faster at text but the photos dont' look quite as good plus it is not 6 colour.

The speed of the 950 for text is nothing to complain about though as you said it is only about 2 times faster for text and who is in that much of a hurry.

Eug · Sep 9, 2003, 04:07 PM

Just a note: If text quality truly is a concern (and you print a lot of it) you're much better off with a cheap laser. It's a bit more expensive up front, but the toner lasts forever, the quality is better, it's generally faster, there's no risk of clogged jets, and it's cheaper in the long run.

As for the photo printers, it's not just the number of colours and accuracy of the prints, but also the colourfastness. If you use a standard ink, even if it looks good, in 3 months it may look like crap. Generally, the non-colourfast inks are reserved for the photo printers, although I'm not sure what Canon does.

BTW, the i960 does make 8.5x11" borderless prints. It's right in the specs.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Sep 9, 2003, 04:30 PM

Originally posted by Eug:
Just a note: If text quality truly is a concern (and you print a lot of it) you're much better off with a cheap laser. It's a bit more expensive up front, but the toner lasts forever, the quality is better, it's generally faster, there's no risk of clogged jets, and it's cheaper in the long run.

Yes that is very true, but when the toner gets low you do run into the marks and lines just like a inkjet would.

tooki · Sep 10, 2003, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by geekwagon:
What's weird is that the i900 does 8.5x11 borderless printing where the i960 can only do 4x6 borderless. I don't really need/want the media slots on the i900 though. Hmm.

Bzzzt! Wrong!

3,072 nozzles for fast edge-to-edge borderless photos (4 x 6, 5 x 7 & 8.5 x 11 in.)

Originally posted by zigzag:
Can someone explain to me how or why Canon distinguishes between "All-Purpose" and "Photo" printers? For instance, the i850 is under the "Photo" heading, but the i860 is under the "All-Purpose" heading, while the i950 and i960 are both under "Photo." Does one model produce better text than the other, or poorer-quality photos, or what?

http://www.usa.canon.com/html/conCpr...;section=10199

I think it's just schizophrenia in the marketing department.

The i850 is a fantastic general-purpose printer that happens to be able to print incredible photos. The i900(0) series, on the other hand, print even better photos, but are inferior for everyday work, since they are optimized for photos, to the detriment of general-purpose printing speed (and the fact that the i900(0) series use dye black ink [BCI-6 series], which isn't as dark as the pigment black ink [BCI-3e series] on plain paper).

The i860 tries to bridge the gap, by using both kinds of black ink -- the BCI-6 black for photos, the BCI-3e black for plain-paper text.

But basically speaking, I say that the i900(0) series is specialized for photos, the i800 series is general-purpose but with great photos, the i560 is basically the same as the i850, and the ones below... well I dunno.

tooki

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Sep 10, 2003, 02:57 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
But basically speaking, I say that the i900(0) series is specialized for photos, the i800 series is general-purpose but with great photos, the i560 is basically the same as the i850, and the ones below... well I dunno.

tooki

I guess that is why printer manufactures call them PHOTO printers

videian28 · Sep 10, 2003, 03:43 PM

damn just got my 850 about 2 weeks ago, woulda bought the 860...but then again the 850 is awesome so I am happy anyway lol

zigzag · Sep 10, 2003, 06:46 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
I think it's just schizophrenia in the marketing department . . .

Thanks, I just wish they would clarify things. There doesn't seem to be any consistency in the model numbering or case designs, and the reviews are never very clear about which models are best at which task. I was never sure if there were meaningful differences or if it was just a marketing thing.

Next time, I'll probably do what Eug suggested - get a laser for text and a photo printer for photos. You can now buy one of each for less than what one good printer cost a few years ago.

tooki · Sep 12, 2003, 04:22 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
I guess that is why printer manufactures call them PHOTO printers

Yes, but the i850 was marketed as a photo printer, while the i560 and i860 were not. (Since this thread was started, Canon moved the i850 and i860 from the photo category to the all-purpose category, but my i850's box still says "photo", and if you read some online reviews, like PC magazine's, you'll find reference to the i850 being marketed as a photo printer.)

If you'd been following this thread carefully, you'd see where the confusion stems from (I'll give you a clue: it's not that I'm an idiot who's pointing out the obvious).

tooki